Urge Lawmakers to Pass Federal Shield Law

The Guild launched an email campaign this week to turn up the heat on Congress to pass a federal shield law, ensuring that journalists are allowed to protect their sources and do their jobs without government interference.

Click here to find your member of Congress and send an email. You can choose to send the message as prepared or edit and change as you desire

“There’s a lot of talk, a lot of energy right now on Capitol Hill around the idea of a shield law and we need to seize on that,” NewsGuild President Bernie Lunzer said. “If we don’t bring pressure to bear on Congress right now, we could lose this window of opportunity.”

That window opened earlier this month when news broke that the Department of Justice, probing leaks, had seized Associated Press phone records and was investigating a FOX News reporter.

Last week, NewsGuild added its name to supporters of the “Free Flow of Information Act,” a bipartisan federal shield law bill introduced in the U.S. House, and in the Senate two days later. The Act, as proposed, sets a high bar for the government to compel a journalist to disclose confidential information.

For more information on the full bill and its section-by-section analysis visit http://newsguild.org/node/3173.